What do business models do? Narratives, calculation and market exploration

Building on a case study of an entrepreneurial venture, we investigate the role played by business models in the innovation process. Rather than debating their accuracy and efficiency, we adopt a pragmatic approach to business models -- we examine them as market devices, focusing on their materiality, use and dynamics. Taking into account the variety of its forms, which range from corporate presentations to business plans, we show that the business model is a narrative and calculative device that allows entrepreneurs to explore a market and plays a performative role by contributing to the construction of the techno-economic network of an innovation.WP abstract: Analyzes the uses and functions of business models through original, qualitative case studies focused on research-based spin-offs.Business models; spin-offs; innovation; commercialization; calculation; exploration; R&D; entrepreneurship

What do business models do? Narratives, calculation and market exploration

http://www.csi.ensmp.fr/Items/WorkingPapers/Download/DLWP.php?wp=WP_CSI_012.pdfCSI WORKING PAPERS SERIES 012International audienceBuilding on a case study of an entrepreneurial venture, we investigate the role played by business models in the innovation process. Rather than debating their accuracy and efficiency, we adopt a pragmatic approach to business models -- we examine them as market devices, focusing on their materiality, use and dynamics. Taking into account the variety of its forms, which range from corporate presentations to business plans, we show that the business model is a narrative and calculative device that allows entrepreneurs to explore a market and plays a performative role by contributing to the construction of the techno-economic network of an innovation.WP abstract: Analyzes the uses and functions of business models through original, qualitative case studies focused on research-based spin-offs.Analyse des usages et fonctions des "business models" à partir d'études de cas originaux dans le domaine des entreprises innovantes issues de la recherche

Analyse pragmatique du business model et performations de marché dans l'entrepreneuriat technologique

Despite its wide diffusion in techno-entrepreneurial practices, the business model remains weakly inserted in the management academic literature. If the vagueness of this notion does not hinder its use by practitioners, it fosters academic controversies. How to define a business model? In order to address this question, this thesis adopt an original approach and draws the business model definition upon what it performs (induces, provokes, establishes) in techno-entrepreneurial practices. The pragmatic analytical framework developed in the thesis characterizes three representations of the business model: start-up prototype, generic value creation logics and economic modeling of a venture. The thesis examines how these three representations are exploited by practitioners to explore the market for the technology, to insert the start-up in industrial architectures and to leverage financial resources. In fact, the thesis shows that the business model plasticity, initially considered as a weakness, supports the coordination among heterogeneous actors - entrepreneurs, customers, partners, investors, consultants - in an uncertain context.Le business model, largement utilisé par les acteurs de l'entrepreneuriat technologique, reste faiblement inséré dans la littérature en sciences de gestion. Si le flou du concept ne semble pas poser problème aux praticiens, il nourrit les controverses académiques. Qu'est-ce qu'un business model ? Afin de répondre à cette question, la thèse adopte une approche originale pour définir le concept à partir de ce qu'il fait et fait faire aux acteurs de l'entrepreneuriat technologique. Le cadre d'analyse pragmatique développé dans la thèse décrit trois modalités de représentation du business model : prototype de l'entreprise en création, logique de création de valeur générique et modélisation économique du projet. La thèse étudie comment ces trois modalités performent l'exploration du marché pour la technologie, l'insertion de la jeune pousse dans des architectures sectorielles et l'obtention des ressources financières nécessaires à son développement. Finalement, la thèse montre que la plasticité du business model, conçue initialement comme une faiblesse, favorise au contraire la coordination d'acteurs hétérogènes (entrepreneurs, clients, partenaires, investisseurs, etc.) en situation d'incertitude

Business models as industry recipes: The case of brokerage on French cash-equity markets

International audienc

From the leader’s values to organizational values: towards a dynamic and experimental view on values work in SMEs

International audienc

From the Leader's Values to Organizational Values: Toward a Dynamic and Experimental View on Value Work in SMEs

International audienc

What is a moral entrepreneur? The case of a new HRM system in a SME of the social and solidarity economy

International audienc

The role of a leader's entrepreneurial competencies in the emergence of an international network of SMEs.

International audienc